How to make Custom Coilovers

I thought I would post my steps possibly for a tutorial on how to go about making custom Coilovers. I will be doing this for my Peugeot 206.

The needed supplies are:
Dremel (recommended)
Sandpaper (I use 200 grit)
30 gauge wire.

The wiring can be found at Radio Shack. 30 gauge is ideal but the size can be increased depending on the car.

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First I shall take the coil-over and examine how it is set up. As in how long, wide and how close together the coils are. After examining I am ready to start sanding the plastic coils off with the dremel.
I may remind that you should only try this if you have a "nack" for sanding.

You should slowly work your way around the coils at to make sure the shock is completely bare. Be sure not to sand off the base of the coils or the scratch build coil will have no place to rest.

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Next after sanding the coils off completely, I will examine the shock once again for any rough spots. And to correct these, I use the sand paper to work my way around the shock to create a more smooth surface to simulate a real shock.
Be sure to look anywhere else on the part that you may have sanded too hard with the dremel to fix.

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Next come the part of actualy making the coils. The 30 gauge wire can be easy and hard to work with. To actualy create the coil, you need to find a round surface like a tree sprue or a drill bit. I use my drill bits to make my coils of any kind.
Here I will be using the largest drill bit I have.

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Stretch out an apropriate length of wire and wrap it around the bit. From this point, you can stretch and crimp the coil to the desired length. Be sure to wrap the wire tightly around the bit or you will get a lopsided coil.
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Remove the coil by cutting the wire at the desired point and "screwing" the coil off the bit.

Place the coil on the modified shock to get an idea of what the finished product will look like. You can make any adjustments from here.

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Here we compare the scratch built coil over with the kit plastic one. It looks much more realistic than the original and can also be modified to actualy work.

After I am finished, the final part is placed on the car to show what the result looks like. And the final result is to my liking.
During the process of all of this, you can paint the shock and coils to the desired color. As you can see, I neglected to do so for the time being.
I hope that this has been a helpful thread in your scratch building aspect of modeling.
Brian

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Great tutorial.Got to try it some time.

great idea

thanksfor the tutorial!;)

cool, im gonna have to try that some time

Very creative! Never thought of that.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Good job :)

nice wrok k-dag........thx for the lil tutorial :)

Great tutorial k_dog!

May I add and highlight some stuff.

If you cannot find the correct colour for the coilover, its best to bend it to shape first and adjust then paint.

If you paint first then bend, you will find that the paint will come off.

Other things you can use to help bend it to shape would be around the screwdriver sets that you can buy in sets of 8, the small ones meant for spectacles.
Or if you have tamiya white round long plastic sticks, this can help too.

I always try to make my own coilovers, its fun and as what k_dog has said, more realistic.

Thanx K-dog, Neat Idea.

Thanks for sharing - must try this soon.

Let me ask you this. If there was no possible way for anyone to see your mod, would you still do it ?

For one of my models I detailed everything i could, but after it was all completed most of my details weren't even noticable becasue they were behind the wheels, inside the cockpit, ect.

Just wanted to know.

Good thing but do you know why I do it....becuase I know its there. Thats all that matters to me, is that I know the detail I did and even if it isnt noticable, I know it's there and thats all that matters.:)
Brian

wow, great idea, thanks for sharing, I'll try that sometime but I'll use the spring that I find in pens instead of the wire.

THANKS!!!

Originally posted by k_dog
Good thing but do you know why I do it....becuase I know its there. Thats all that matters to me, is that I know the detail I did and even if it isnt noticable, I know it's there and thats all that matters.:)
Brian
Agree, I've been trying to make my cars as detailed as possible lately, and this turorial looks worth giving a shot, thanks for posting!

Great job Brian, Hope the 206 goes well, I'm working on mine at the moment as well.

Originally posted by Mainomega
Let me ask you this. If there was no possible way for anyone to see your mod, would you still do it ?

For one of my models I detailed everything i could, but after it was all completed most of my details weren't even noticable becasue they were behind the wheels, inside the cockpit, ect.

Just wanted to know.

Some models will allow you to display your modifications.
Even if they didnt allow it, I take it as a personal challenge to modfiy it.
Its just a way of getting up my skills as I go along. That way, should a model allow it, I know I am up to par by then.

All in all, it really depends on you.
I find it a personal challenge.

nice tuturiol

and on the detail thing. shit man, that happens with my photoshops also, I love paying attention to details, even in most of my details, no one hardly notices them unless I say something about it. Just sort of a personal thing.

Great tuturiol :cool:
Another idea to use instead of wire is very tiny springs that you can just cut to length

that is a cool ideal thank pal i will try it great job :flash: :flash:

cool tutorial, can u get the same result with small springs also?

Originally posted by fullbloodchop01
cool tutorial, can u get the same result with small springs also?

What exactly are you asking? If it's about the diameter of the springs, yes. They can be modified to fit any size shock and be any diameter or length. There is a more in depth way that I havent touched on about how to make the suspention work like actualy move up and down and still hold it's realisim.
Brian

Originally posted by Chain


Some models will allow you to display your modifications.
Even if they didnt allow it, I take it as a personal challenge to modfiy it.
Its just a way of getting up my skills as I go along. That way, should a model allow it, I know I am up to par by then.

All in all, it really depends on you.
I find it a personal challenge.

Couldnt have said it any beter!
Brian

cool :ylsuper: